Die Mannequin :: Neon Zero

Toronto-based band, Die Mannequin’s newest album Neon Zero is a collection of tracks that are wickedly versatile in the spaces where you can appropriately listen to them. The album’s punk-rock-and-sometimes-electro blend of sounds works for rocking out in front of your mirror with a hairbrush microphone or head-banging and dancing in a moshpit, with tracks like the band’s catchy numbers ‘Sucker Punch’ and ‘Murder on the Dancefloor.’ Frontwoman Care Failure’s vocals carry an edge reminiscent (at least in my opinion) of Paramore’s Hayley Williams that registers as nothing short of dynamic.

It’s rare that I stumble across heavy music that can actually make me want to dance, but Die Mannequin definitely falls under that description. They’ve termed their recent sound as “evil dance metal,” a fitting play on EDM, in interviews. The album isn’t all pummeling dance rock, though. The track ‘I’m Just A Girl,’ a “call to all the down-and-outs,” swells with emotion to which many teens and 20-somethings can relate. Failure’s vocals ache with a strength and a yearning for something more out of life than her old small town, uncertainty, and unsupportive love can give her.

‘I’m Just A Girl’ and the haunting ‘Blood In Blood Out’ are about as close to ballads as you’ll find on this album, but the constant high-energy feel of Neon Zero works. I dare anyone to listen to ‘Ka-Ching’ without bouncing their head or starting to sing along on the first listen. Closing out the album on a powerful note is the striking, almost angry track ‘Outta Time’, which ends Neon Zero the way it started: captivating and a cross between danceable and hardcore.

Needless to say, I strongly recommend this album. Neon Zero should not only bring the Warped Tour crowds out in droves, but should also amass a wide variety of music fans who will all find something to enjoy under this album’s huge umbrella of sound variance.